A Buck & Some Change...Under 20
Greetings, 1MileNation'ers...
5 days away from "The Big 1"...feeling ready for it? Thankfully, God provided some adequate heat up here in North Dakota, and started melting away a lot of the snow this past weekend. The track that's just about 4 blocks away from my house was pretty much cleared of snow, yet still had some water flowing over some sections on the inside lanes of the track. Also, a set of bleachers were also in the way of the first 3 lanes, so I had to weave my way around that during my workout. What was my workout?
Hence the title, "A Buck & Some Change..under 20".
Got a good little 2-3 minute jog on my way down to the track to get going, after I used my Stick warm-up device back home. If you're not sure what the Stick is, I use it in my "Power & Control For Sports" video on my YouTube channel at http://youtube.com/speeddialcoach.
Anyhoo...I then got into a groove and cranked out 4 laps for an-over-1600m run, due to the water & the set of bleachers on the track. I am estimating my 400m times would have been about 1:25-1:30 without these disruptions, as one section of the track for 200m was allowing me to get that in about 40 seconds. So, my extended 1600m trial run came to be 6:24. I estimate about 6 seconds of 'going around stuff' time on each lap, that would take 24 seconds off that time with a fully cleared off track.
After a mile's worth of time-trialing myself, I rested for 5 minutes by walking 400m and just standing around until the time was up to run again. I then did a 400m trial in 1:24, rested 1:36 (basically until 3 minutes hit my stopwatch), and then did another 'quarter's worth of running in 1:24 once again. So, that's my "buck" and "some change" at the end, all under 20 minutes worth of running. All in all, it was 17:30 in total time spent at the track, with roughly 2.5-3 minutes of my warm-up jog on the way down. I walked back home as my cool-down.
This is why I love training at shorter distances than most other runners: I can feel tired but refreshed in small amount of time after my run, and still not spend a whole lot of time in total training.
There were days in my past where I'd go for 5, 6, 7, & 8 mile runs, and it would take me a lot of time to recover from those runs. An 8-mile run would be conducted on a 4 mile loop around the town I lived in, Cooperstown, ND, mostly on the gravel roads on the outskirts of town, with a short water break after the first 4 miles. That would take me roughly a half-hour to do at a 7.5 minute/mile clip. Factor in about a 5 minute water break at home, and then going out again for another 4 in about 30-32 minutes. That was over an hour's worth of time to spend at just 'putting in the miles'. Truth of the matter is, it didn't get me any faster, I just got better at running a longer distance. I didn't get much faster because I didn't spent an adequate amount of time on RUNNING FAST, as the simple Specificity Principle of exercise can state. If you want to run fast, you have to practice the skill of running fast, and do it frequently enough where the body becomes used to such a level of performance.
I always use the race car driver example of how they train specifically to handle their high speed vehicles for even a race like 500 miles: They don't get their race car on a 500 mile stretch of highway to test their car out & tweak it for their needs. They do time trials and practice around the track at competition speeds to find the right edge they need to compete with their car. Many times they will do shorter races, much like NASCAR Sprint Cup racers will also be racing in the Nationwide series and NASCAR Truck series races on that very same track they will be competing in their official Sprint Cup cars on Sunday.
Runners, I believe, need to do more of these "Nationwide" type of "races", such as the occasional 400m & 800m time trials to see where they are at in relation to their competition speeds (i.e. their Mile time goals to reach).
Tonight was a great example of where I feel I need to go for my personal running goals. I want to get under a 5 minute 1600m time on the track, so I will have to get up to a competition speed of 75 seconds per 400m lap. Right now, I'm at 84 seconds/lap on just a 1-lap, 400m trial, and that's with a lot of stuff in the way on a track. On a cleared track, I estimate I could do closer to an 80 second 400m. That's only 5 seconds/lap I need to start chipping away at, to reach my goal.
On my cool-down walk on the way home, I thought about this little mantra to help me reach my goal: "75 by 7/5", meaning I want to average a 75 second 400m pace for my Mile by July 5th.
What could be your 'mantra' or goal-setting objective to reach? Well, the first thing I can tell you is to RUN THE BIG 1, this Saturday, to see where you are at, and then set your goals from there. Maybe you would like to be 'Under 6 by June 6th"...
I'm still taking registrations for The Big 1, so feel free to tell your friends about it and get them to sign up along with you! I haven't had any teams sign up, just individuals...and we have an international competitor from Australia who just signed up last week! So, no matter where you are from, people are signing up from all over for this big gathering!
Register here: http://asapworkouts.com/1mnvr.html
Run Strong, Run Fast...
Run So As To Win!
Coach Rick Karboviak
http://1MileNation.com
http://KettleBolics.com
http://RocketSpeedTraining.com
5 days away from "The Big 1"...feeling ready for it? Thankfully, God provided some adequate heat up here in North Dakota, and started melting away a lot of the snow this past weekend. The track that's just about 4 blocks away from my house was pretty much cleared of snow, yet still had some water flowing over some sections on the inside lanes of the track. Also, a set of bleachers were also in the way of the first 3 lanes, so I had to weave my way around that during my workout. What was my workout?
Hence the title, "A Buck & Some Change..under 20".
Got a good little 2-3 minute jog on my way down to the track to get going, after I used my Stick warm-up device back home. If you're not sure what the Stick is, I use it in my "Power & Control For Sports" video on my YouTube channel at http://youtube.com/speeddialcoach.
Anyhoo...I then got into a groove and cranked out 4 laps for an-over-1600m run, due to the water & the set of bleachers on the track. I am estimating my 400m times would have been about 1:25-1:30 without these disruptions, as one section of the track for 200m was allowing me to get that in about 40 seconds. So, my extended 1600m trial run came to be 6:24. I estimate about 6 seconds of 'going around stuff' time on each lap, that would take 24 seconds off that time with a fully cleared off track.
After a mile's worth of time-trialing myself, I rested for 5 minutes by walking 400m and just standing around until the time was up to run again. I then did a 400m trial in 1:24, rested 1:36 (basically until 3 minutes hit my stopwatch), and then did another 'quarter's worth of running in 1:24 once again. So, that's my "buck" and "some change" at the end, all under 20 minutes worth of running. All in all, it was 17:30 in total time spent at the track, with roughly 2.5-3 minutes of my warm-up jog on the way down. I walked back home as my cool-down.
This is why I love training at shorter distances than most other runners: I can feel tired but refreshed in small amount of time after my run, and still not spend a whole lot of time in total training.
There were days in my past where I'd go for 5, 6, 7, & 8 mile runs, and it would take me a lot of time to recover from those runs. An 8-mile run would be conducted on a 4 mile loop around the town I lived in, Cooperstown, ND, mostly on the gravel roads on the outskirts of town, with a short water break after the first 4 miles. That would take me roughly a half-hour to do at a 7.5 minute/mile clip. Factor in about a 5 minute water break at home, and then going out again for another 4 in about 30-32 minutes. That was over an hour's worth of time to spend at just 'putting in the miles'. Truth of the matter is, it didn't get me any faster, I just got better at running a longer distance. I didn't get much faster because I didn't spent an adequate amount of time on RUNNING FAST, as the simple Specificity Principle of exercise can state. If you want to run fast, you have to practice the skill of running fast, and do it frequently enough where the body becomes used to such a level of performance.
I always use the race car driver example of how they train specifically to handle their high speed vehicles for even a race like 500 miles: They don't get their race car on a 500 mile stretch of highway to test their car out & tweak it for their needs. They do time trials and practice around the track at competition speeds to find the right edge they need to compete with their car. Many times they will do shorter races, much like NASCAR Sprint Cup racers will also be racing in the Nationwide series and NASCAR Truck series races on that very same track they will be competing in their official Sprint Cup cars on Sunday.
Runners, I believe, need to do more of these "Nationwide" type of "races", such as the occasional 400m & 800m time trials to see where they are at in relation to their competition speeds (i.e. their Mile time goals to reach).
Tonight was a great example of where I feel I need to go for my personal running goals. I want to get under a 5 minute 1600m time on the track, so I will have to get up to a competition speed of 75 seconds per 400m lap. Right now, I'm at 84 seconds/lap on just a 1-lap, 400m trial, and that's with a lot of stuff in the way on a track. On a cleared track, I estimate I could do closer to an 80 second 400m. That's only 5 seconds/lap I need to start chipping away at, to reach my goal.
On my cool-down walk on the way home, I thought about this little mantra to help me reach my goal: "75 by 7/5", meaning I want to average a 75 second 400m pace for my Mile by July 5th.
What could be your 'mantra' or goal-setting objective to reach? Well, the first thing I can tell you is to RUN THE BIG 1, this Saturday, to see where you are at, and then set your goals from there. Maybe you would like to be 'Under 6 by June 6th"...
I'm still taking registrations for The Big 1, so feel free to tell your friends about it and get them to sign up along with you! I haven't had any teams sign up, just individuals...and we have an international competitor from Australia who just signed up last week! So, no matter where you are from, people are signing up from all over for this big gathering!
Register here: http://asapworkouts.com/1mnvr.html
Run Strong, Run Fast...
Run So As To Win!
Coach Rick Karboviak
http://1MileNation.com
http://KettleBolics.com
http://RocketSpeedTraining.com
Uh oh, now I get a mention, I better step up to the plate. Let's hope this morning's intervals achieved something - I'm all slow twitch, this will be interesting.
Hope you have a big virtual turn out!
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